A Picnic in the Woods
by supersizedmcshizzleluvr
Summary: Tylla/Tysella is just being a super cute couple when Drew and Conner try to sabotage them...who will come out on top?
1. The Date

She sat in a tree, reading. Ella was pretty and smart. And she liked peanut butter. And I wanted to walk in the woods and eat peanut butter and read with Ella. And give her the gift. But I had to ask her first, and I was scared. I didn't know why I was scared of pretty Ella. I had made huge things go boom before. Ella helped. I should not be scared of anything. I had to be brave.

"Do-do you want to walk with me? In the woods? With your book? And my peanut butter?" My face felt hot. And red. But Ella looked happy, maybe even more than happy.

"Yes. Yes, Ella would like that. Ella would like that very much. Into the Woods, musical comedy, 2014."

What did she say? I did not understand the last part. But that is okay. She said yes. We would go into the woods together. And she would get her gift.

We walked. She stopped next to a stream and sat down.

"Here. We will picnic here. Next to the brook. Brook, musician, One Piece, anime. 'I'm the Afro-hair guy.' Yes. Here we will picnic.

What? Ella didn't have Afro-hair. Maybe Brook had Afro-hair? At least he was in one piece. Oh, well. Maybe Ella wanted peanut butter.

"Peanut butter?"

"No. Starch is bad for giants. Peanut butter is bad for books. Peanut butter stains. You can eat peanut butter. You cannot touch the book."

But I couldn't eat peanut butter without Ella! Maybe Ella could read to me. No one ever taught me how.

"Can you read to me?" Now my face was hot and red again. I don't understand why that happens.

"Okay. Ella will read to Tyson. Ella likes Tyson." And Ella's face turned red, too. Ella went to the front of the book and began.

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip."

Ella finished the first chapter. It was confusing. There were a lot of words I did not know. But it sounded pretty, like music.

"Thank you." I did not know what else I should say. Maybe I should take out the gift now.

"Oh. I...um...made this for you." I pulled it out of my pocket. It was a bracelet, unwrapped. And I put little feather charms. And my face was hot again. And I couldn't look at Ella. I remembered how long it took me to make the charms out of metal. I hoped Ella liked it.

"Wow. This is pretty. This is very, vey, pretty. Ella likes this. Ella likes this very much. Ella says thank you to Tyson."

I looked at her. And she looked at me. And we were smiling. (And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.)


	2. Piper's News

**Thank you, Amber Ember7! Without you, I don't think I would have continued. Please review, you have no idea how amazing I feel when I know that somebody actually cares c:**

**Oh, and leave criticism! I am super open-minded and willing to improve, let me know if I should change/improve something.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

* * *

><p>Ella was always near me. And I loved it. She would on my shoulder and help me read. It was hard to read when her feathers tickled and she smelled like lemons, but she made me happy. After learning the alphabet and sounds, she would help me read a lot of different things. We began Black Beauty, which was Ella's favorite.<p>

"Yes, yes yes. Ella likes this one. Animals have feelings too. Animals and cyclopses and harpies. We can think like people. Sewell understands."

We sat at the corner of the sword arena. No one was there now, so it was mostly quiet. Reading alone was hard, but Ella made it easy. I was just finishing a paragraph.

"...th-they do not su-suf-"

"Suffer." She would smile when she fixed my words. But it wasn't a mean smile. She was just happy that that I was slowly learning.

"Suffer less be-because they ha-have no words." I finished the paragraph.

"Yes! Tyson can read. Tyson is nice and handsome and strong and now he can read. My Tyson is the best in the universe. 'The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.' Kurt Vonnegut. I like Tyson."

What? Ella liked me? And she thought I was handsome and strong and the best? Now my face turned redder than ever and it was hard to speak clearly.

"I-I like y-you, too."

She smiled. Her teeth were perfect and white even though she used them to clean her feathers sometimes. I think we were both feeling very happy, in our shared moment. Then someone giggled loudly. It was one of my brother's friends, the one with lots of braids in her hair.

"Yes! Yes, I totally ship it, oh my gods! You guys are just SO ADORABLE, it's like, completely unbelievable. You're even cuter than Frazel, for gods' sake! And NO ONE is cuter than Frazel, believe me. Wow. I actually sound like an Aphrodite kid, for once. I hope Mom is proud." She smiled.

Me and Ella looked at each other. I think we were both kind of confused.

"Anyways, you're going to the Fourth of July fireworks together, right? Never mind, of course you are! I mean, come on, there's no way you're NOT going together. As head cabin member of the Aphrodite cabin, you guys are officially going to be the Top Couple. You both get to sit on your thrones, which are the best viewing seats, AND you get to have a special message or picture programmed into the fireworks. I'm sure everyone would agree that you're the cutest couple at camp, so no one should resent my decision. The fireworks are going to be AMAZING, just you wait! Talk to ya later, I have archery with Chiron!"

She sprinted away before either of them could ask questions.

"Umm...we will get thrones? And put a picture in the fireworks?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Wow, we will sit on thrones. Ella needs a pretty dress and you need a suit. Yes, Ella will like this. This makes Ella happy. Ella wants to say thank you to Piper."

She flew to follow her, me right behind.

But what Tyson and Ella didn't know was that their conversation with Piper had been eavesdropped on.

Connor was helpless as Drew stomped her foot, looking ready for murder about the news. To be honest, Connor couldn't care less. So what? It was a stupid throne. And he could always bribe the Hephaestus kids to put in an extra message for them, if that was what Drew wanted. Connor was sneaky that way. But Drew had other ideas.

"No! They CAN'T be Top Couple! That was going to be us, sweetheart! WE would be the center of attention, like we deserve to be! But noooo-two monsters are taking our place. We have to DO something, hon!"

Connor agreed. And together, they hatched a plan.


	3. Dress Shopping

**So, another chapter! Sorry if it's a bit late. Almost 100 views! Now, if everyone who viewed ****_reviewed..._**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of the references herein.**

* * *

><p>Ella asked Piper to take us out of the city to buy pretty clothes. She loved the idea. Piper drove and the two of us sat in the back. Normally cars don't make me feel good, but sitting next to Ella helped. I looked at her pretty brown eyes, and it calmed me down.<p>

"So! Ella, you're gonna look stunning in a strapless gown. I'm thinking white, but spring green would be a great contrast with your feathers. We can't get something red or orange, that would just blend in with your feathers-"

"Green. Ella likes green. Spring green. Green Day, rock band, American Idiot."

"Okay then! Ooh, Thalia loves Green Day. By the way, accessories are on me, if you guys can pay for the dress and tuxedo."

I had a job for the summer, one in a warehouse. I only needed to move things around with a forklift. It was easy, and it payed a lot. I could buy everything. Piper was nice to pay for some of it.

"Yes, I can pay. Thank you so much."

Ella looked so excited. She looked ineffably happy. Ineffably was one of the words I learned when we were reading. It means "not describable." She flapped her wings a little, and the feather bracelet I made for her jingled. It made me happy that she was wearing it.

We got to the store. There were a few other people there. One couple was wearing camp t-shirts. The girl was Asian and pretty and the boy was tall with brown hair. The girl noticed us, and looked mad. She stomped away, to another part of the store. The boy followed. I don't know why the girl didn't like us. Maybe she saw someone else behind us? No one else noticed.

"Okay, so these are organized by color. Did you say spring green? How about this one, I love the skirt..."

I walked over to the tuxedoes while she talked. Most of them were black. I saw a whole aisle of light blue ones. They made me shudder-I was reminded of Polyphemus. He was the big mean cyclops who wanted to marry Grover. Even though the goat-boy made my nose itch, and his hooves made me nervous, he was my friend. I walked over to the black tuxedoes, then saw Piper coming my way.

"You know what? A white suit would match perfectly with a green tie to match Ella's dress!" She moved to the white tuxedoes, and pulled a plus-sized one out. "Try this one on while I get you a tie, okay?" I started walking to the dressing room and heard Piper talking to herself.

"Huh...must be some sort of curse from mom...I'm never like this! Oh well, as long as I can help some friends out with it. Wouldn't want to leave them with Drew..."

Ella was coming out of the room as I was about to walk in. She was stunning (another word I learned!) in a bright green sparkly dress. The dress was floaty and delicate, like a cloud. It was tight at the waist, short in the front, and long in the back. There were no sleeves, and a lot of skin and feathers showed. I lifted her by the waist and twirled her around. She giggled.

"Yes. Ella feels pretty. Ella will wear makeup and be even prettier. Tyson likes Ella?"

I put her down gently. "Yes, I like Ella. I like Ella very much."

We bought the clothes, with some very sparkly jewelry for Ella, before going back to camp.

Back in the store, Drew and Connor were arguing.

"We had a plan, sweetheart!" Drew insisted. Her charmspeak was almost visible in the air. Connor looked uncomfortable.

"I know, but-it's not that I can't do it, I just-I mean, even I can see how cute they are together. I don't want to ruin that, ya know?"

"You have to do this, hon! They aren't even part human, like us! They're monsters by definition. Are you going to let them be better than you?"

Connor resigned. "Fine. I'll start the sabotage tonight. But remember, if anything goes wrong, it's all on you."

Maybe not the best thing to say in a relationship. But Connor didn't really like Drew anyways. If she didn't have that dam charmspeak, they might not still be together. The thing was, he didn't always realize that she was using it. Maybe one of the Hephaestus kids could build him a charmspeak detector? Connor had ways of bribing them...


	4. Expert Advice

**Sorry for the delay, but hope you like this one! Also, I need reviews, you guys! If you're a writer, you remember how much they helped you when you were a newbie.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

* * *

><p>The Fourth of July fireworks started on the same night we bought the clothes. It was getting closer to nighttime, and I was getting nervous. I wanted to talk to Percy about girls. He probably knew a lot about them. More than me, anyways.<p>

"Hey, brother!" I greeted (a fancy word for "saying hello"!) him. He looked handsome. His hair was usually very messy, but today a lot of gel made it stiff. He kept touching his forehead, almost like he forgot it wasn't in his face.

"Hey, you exited? Heard Piper made you and Ella Top Couple! Any Aphrodite kid can nominate someone, but the head member is the one who decides. Which is funny, cuz I would've imagined that she would leave it up to the other girls." He shook his head. "Dunno what's gotten into her. I mean, she obviously picked the cutest couple-" here my face turned red, is there a word for that? "-but normally she lets Lacy or someone else pick. It's like her mom blessed her. Or cursed her. No one can tell the difference, to be honest."

I laughed. Percy always made me feel better. Like Ella almost, but in a different way. But I had come here for a reason.

"I wanted to ask you something..."

"Yeah?"

"Umm...I want to know how to-how to act a-around Ella." Why was I so nervous? I shouldn't be.

He laughed for some reason, which made me look at the floor. "Well, for starters, don't try to go too far. Like you can hold hands, hug, cuddle, maybe even kiss, but don't go past that, okay? You might want to, but remember that you've only known each other for a couple of months."

Now I was confused. "Past...kissing? I-I don't understand."

He was the nervous one now. He was jumpy all of a sudden. "Wait-no one ever-oh. Oh gods, I don't want to be the one who gives you the-how old are you again?"

His thoughts were moving faster than his words. I was confused, but I could answer his question. "I'm 12? 13? I don't know my birthday."

For some reason, he looked relieved. "Okay. Cyclopses probably age slower too, at least mentally. Not yet, then. But-gods, I'm gonna have to tell you sometime. That's gonna be awkward, especially since Ella-wait, Ella is half bird. Does it even work the same way? Now that I think of it, how does it work interspecies? How was Chuck born when his mom is literally just-" His face had a grossed-out look on it. "Wow. Graphic images. Waaaay too graphic. I should probably ask Annabeth on that one..."

How does what work? What did he have to tell me? I was very, very confused at this point. Time to get back on topic.

"So, how do I act around her?"

He was still distracted. "Just do whatever you always do. You're still a bit awkward, but that's part of making a great relationship. Honestly, there's nothing that you can do wrong..."

"Okay, thank you for your help, brother." He didn't actually help much, but that was okay. I left, planning to walk to the forges to get more of my second gift for Ella done. It was a necklace to match the bracelet. It wouldn't be done tonight, but hopefully it would be finished by our next date.

A girl appeared out of nowhere. I remembered her. She was the pretty Asian we saw in the store. The one who didn't like us. She was smiling now.

"Hey, sweetheart! Heard you, like, needed some pointers for hanging with your girlfriend. As an Aphrodite kid, I know ALL about love." Yes. This girl was definitely an expert. I wanted-no, I needed-to pay attention to every word. Whatever this girl said would help me. "First of all, don't talk to her, mmkay? All girls HATE communication of any kind. Second, don't hug her, or cuddle her, hon. Or, gods forbid, kiss her. Girls also hate physical contact, especially with the ones they love. Ignore every word she says, and everything she does. She wants to sit on your shoulder, sweetheart? Shrug her off. She tries to talk? Pretend you're deaf. Do all this, sweetie, and your relationship WILL thrive. Trust me."

Yes. Yes, I trusted her very much. Her words mesmerized (a word Ella taught me! I can't believe I used to listen to her) me. I nodded, and she walked away.

As Tyson stood by the cabins, dazed, Drew met up with Connor.

"Like taking candy from a baby, hon. They'll hate each other for weeks, even if they ever figure out why he became SO rude all of a sudden. Now, it's your turn, sweetie."

"Yes. I was just preparing my tools."


	5. Sabotage?

**A/N: So, so sorry for the delay (ya know, for the few who actually enjoy this). I had a busy week. Managed to get first place in Science Fair, though! Yay me!**

**I'm not even gonna ask for reviews, this time. Three is pathetic, yet you refuse to type out a meager "love it!" or "this sucks!" and hit the "Post Review" button. (Is this reverse psychology? Maybe. I haven't decided yet.)**

**Anyways, I don't own PJO. Back to the story.**

* * *

><p>Connor hated Drew. It wasn't fair-Travis got some cute Demeter girl, and he was pretty much forced against his will into a relationship with a charmspeaking, extremely self-centered brat. And there was no way out of it-or was there?<p>

Drew had wanted him to cut halfway though the beams supporting the "throne" so that it wouldn't support Tyson and Ella's weight, and set up fart bombs (he had an abundance of those in his pranks stash) that would be triggered by the sound of fireworks. It would ruin the show for everyone. And all because of Drew's idiotic prejudice against monsters. Not all of them were bad.

But if Drew _thought_ he set everything up, there would be no need for her charmspeak...

"Ella feels pretty. Look at my jewelry! Look at my dress! Look bicycles, founded 1951. And you are handsome. Yes! My Tyson is very handsome."

I ignored her, like the pretty girl told me to. But something felt wrong.

"Tyson? Are you okay?"

I was confused. Ella looked worried and sad. But the Asian girl told me that ignoring Ella would make her happy. Was she wrong?

"Tyson looks confused. Yes. Very, very confused. Why is Tyson confused?

I-I should talk to her, but-

"Tyson?"

She was scared. I could sense it. I had to forget what the pretty Asian girl told me to do. It was hard, but I looked at Ella, and suddenly forgot what that girl said.

"Yes. Yes, I am okay. I am sorry."

Was she-was she hurt? I didn't want to hurt her feelings! That Asian girl was mean. I had to ignore her next time.

"Why? Indie rock band, founded 2004. What did Ella do?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry. The pretty girl told me to ignore you. She said that would make you happy. I listened to her, but then I saw you weren't happy."

"Drew?" She knew the names of everyone at camp. She was amazing.

"Yes. Probably."

"Don't listen to her. She has charmspeak. She is mean and manipulative. Mean Girls, starring Lindsey Lohan."

"I-I'll try. But it's hard not to listen. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Ella still loves her Tyson."

"I love you, too."


End file.
